Update@Noon

It seems efforts by President Jacob Zuma to pay back the money as ordered by the constitutional court have not put the Nkandla matter to rest. The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) says even though the President has paid back the money, they will pursue legal route to establish if there is any element of criminality. Professor Shadrack Gutto, from the th Institute for African Renaissance studies at...

Efforts to rescue the trapped illegal miners at a disused mine in Langlaagte, south of Johannesburg are underway. Last night the rescue teams were hard at work trying to locate an undisclosed number of illegal miners since who have been underground since last Thursday. To get the latest update, we are joined on the line by Chief Executive of Mines Rescue Services South Africa, Christo De Klerk.

Estate agent Penny Sparrow has made a tearful apology in the Scottburgh Magistrate's Court for her racist remarks on social network that sparked a public outcry. Commenting on a social network post about litter on KwaZulu-Natal beaches after New Year's Day, Sparrow called black people uneducated monkeys. The apology is part of a plea bargain with the state on a charge of crimen injuria. It comes a...

Teachers' union SADTU in the Western Cape has called for a boycott of systemic evaluation testing at schools. Learners in grades 3,6 and 9 write the mathematics, numeracy and literacy tests annually in October to test their level of competency. SADTU Secretary Jonovan Rustin says they have on numerous occasions called on the education department to stop the testing. He was addressing a media brief...

Former Deputy President, Kgalema Motlanthe says he is concerned by what he referred to as the deviation from the liberation promise by those in leadership positions in the country. Motlanthe was delivering a lecture on Value Based Leadership at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, last night. The lecture was organised by the university's business school in partnership with the Thabo Makgoba Developme...

Eastern Cape businesses have partnered in a bid to instil a reading culture in rural schools, particularly those in Transkei. The partnership saw ten schools in Butterworth and Ngqamakwe under Mnquma Municipality receiving learning and teaching material which includes books and sporting equipment. The business sector did this under the Rally to Read Campaign which targets primary school learners....

Environmental minister, Edna Molewa, says almost more than 700 rhinos have been killed in the first half of 2016. That's a 100 less that last year. She was speaking at the official opening National Parks Week at Addo Elephant National Park, outside Port Elizabeth, at the weekend. We caught up with Minister Molewa for more details...

The eJozini local municipality remains without office beares more than a month after the August 03rd local government elections. The hung council has unsuccessfully tried four times to hold a successful sitting where a mayor and speaker were to be elected. Both the ANC and the IFP received an equal number of votes resulting in a stalemate. The ANC has called for a re-run of the election, while the...

Mine rescue operations at the disused mine in Langlaagte, south of Johannesburg, have been called off to allow dangerous gases such as carbon monoxide to dissipate underground. Officials could not confirm claims that one of the illegal miners trapped underground has died. A fourth illegal miner to be rescued is said to have told mine rescue about the death. We caught with Basil Douglas who is a co...

Production in the mining sector has declined by 5 point 4 percent in July compared with a fall of 3 percent in June. Platinum was the biggest contributor to the total mining production figures coming in at these levels. Some economists say this is worrisome, as it could affect the next quarters GDP figures negatively. This week's GDP figures showed that the mining sector was the second biggest con...

South African companies are less enthusiastic to employ younger people compared to other global companies. According to a research conducted by Deloitte-company staff feel threaten by prospects of younger people coming into their work environment. This makes employment and experience opportunities more difficult for younger people. Trevor Page director at Deloitte Consulting was speaking on the la...

Basic Education Deputy Minister, Enver Surty has told the National Council of Provinces that the department has put in place several measures to deal with rape at schools. According to last year's police statistics, there were more than 50 thousand rape cases in South Africa. This translates into 149 cases a day. We spoke to Gender Rights Activist, Lisa Vetten and Deputy Minister, Enver Surty...

President Jacob Zuma says his Chinese trip has been successful. He has concluded his five day visit to the People's Republic of China where he attended the G20 Summit in Hangzhou with leaders of the world's most industrialised countries. He then moved to Guangdong province for the Investing in Africa Forum where he witnessed the signing of a cooperation agreement between rail company PRASA and its...

The National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) in parliament says its members will be downing tools today over unresolved issued which saw a protracted strike last year. We spoke to the union's Chairperson in parliament Sithembiso Tembe...

Trade Union Solidarity believes Khulubuse Zuma, a nephew of President Jacob Zuma, will take years to pay off the 23 million rand he owes. The union reached a settlement in court yesterday with Zuma, a former director of Aurora Empowerment Systems. The money has to be paid to liquidators of the Pamodzi gold mine for distribution to workers left destitute when their assets were stripped. We spoke to...

Zimbabwe's opposition will resume street protests again after a high court overturned a police ban on demonstrations. The court ruled that the two week prohibition order on marches in the city centre was issued unprocedurally and that it was also unconstitutional and unproceedural. Our correspondent Shingai Nyoka filed this report from Harare....

Market analyst Clive 'ntozabantu Ramathibela looks at Asian shares which were trading at one year highs, The European central bank could rev up the markets and Investment theme for Thursday is investing in the diamond industry.

The National Assembly has approved State Security Agency analyst Busisiwe Mkhwebane to become the new Public Protector. This after the Assembly considered the Adhoc Committee's report that recommended Mkhwebane as the preferred candidate. All parties voted in favour of Mkwhebane except the DA which voted against. There was only one abstention from COPE. Mercedes Besent reports

Gujwa Magagula equity sales analyst at Avior Capital Markets looks at whether the US Federal Bank would hike rates, Steinhoff acquires Tekikke Town and Apple debuts iPhone 7 amid investor concern.

There could be a link between the use of cellphones by health workers in hospitals and Hospital-Acquired Infections (HAIs) in South Africa. This is according to Graham Anderson, CEO and Principal Officer of Profmed. He has called on both private and public sector hospitals to implement systems and dedicated teams to monitor HAIs. These are defined as infections that are acquired by patients while...

Parliament's portfolio committee says it would take its cue from the National Assembly before it decides on whether it will restart disciplinary proceedings against Robert McBride This after the Constitutional Court found that there are insufficient safeguards to protect against executive interference in the workings of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate. We spoke to Committee Chairp...

The Fees Commission was again disrupted - this time by students in Cape Town. Yesterday, a group of students prevented UCT vice chancellor Max Price from leaving the venue after he made his submission to the commission. Price was eventually removed from the hall under a strong police guard. Zalene Merrington reports...

Reserve bank governor, Lesetla Kganyago says as the economy grapples with the high unemployment rate and the high cost of living, consumers take their hard earned cash and invest it in pyramid schemes. He says the public is losing and billions of rands through such schemes. Lesetja was addressing the media and different stakeholder where he launched a campaign which is geared towards educating mem...

Market analyst Clive 'ntozabantu Ramathibela looks at Asian markets as they reach one year high, Apple unveils new iphone 7, markets are on the watch and GDP growth is expected to hike in January 2017....

All eyes will turn to Parliament to see whether they will press ahead with disciplinary charges against suspended police watchdog head, Robert McBride. McBride faces charges of gross misconduct related to his handling of an investigation into the illegal rendition of suspects to Zimbabwe. The Constitutional Court has set aside Police Minister Nathi Nhleko's decision to discipline McBride. The cour...